In North Kivu in the Beni territory, the purchasing price of cocoa has seen a considerable drop in all agricultural regions since last week. A few months ago, the price of a kilo of cocoa was between 4 and 8.5 US dollars. A cost which follows the increase in the price of this product on the world market, to the great satisfaction of farmers and all those involved in the production and export of cocoa. The joy was, however, short-lived because in recent times the price of this product has seen a sharp fall on the world market. Locally, a kilo of cocoa now costs only 4 and 4.5 US dollars. This situation has a negative impact on production, sales and purchasing activities in agricultural cooperatives in the Watalinga chiefdom, where a large quantity of Beni cocoa comes from, explains David Muwaze, president of the Cooperative of Planters, Buyers, Resellers of Agricultural Products in Watalinga. “The kilogram which was at $8.5 today can be bought at $4, $4.5 in just one week. And today it continues to decline. It is we cooperatives, agricultural associations which lose more because today there are many cooperatives which must suffer the consequences especially of the loss and even others can fall into bankruptcy. Because they had allocated their means, their funds to purchase cocoa at a higher price and today as it is falling like this, it is causing more losses. We may even risk having difficulties in relation to the social share of our members in cooperatives and agricultural associations. » On the side of the National Office of Agricultural Products in Congo ONAPAC in Beni, we explain this drop in price by the collapse in the price of cocoa observed at the global level.
Other topics from Echos d’ économique this Wednesday, May 8, 2024:
-Increase in the price of fuel in Minova in the province of North Kivu.
-Increase in monthly customer deposits in banks. The same trend is also observed for loans granted to private companies, households and SMEs.
-Collapse of the Mandje bridge. Traffic on the Bunia Kasenyi section is disrupted.
-The guest from the economy is Sylvain Mapatano coordinator of the DIOBASS platform based in North and South Kivu. This association campaigns for the supervision of small agricultural producers in these two provinces.
Click on the link below to follow the show presented by Jocelyne Musau:
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